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Pineda set to make rehab start this weekend

4/16/14: Michael Pineda pitches six shutout innings vs. the Cubs, allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out three for the win

By Bryan Hoch
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MLB.com |

ARLINGTON -- The last time Michael Pineda was healthy enough to face a lineup, he was wearing a smudge of pine tar on his neck, an offense that got the right-hander ejected from an April 23 start at Fenway Park.

That is expected to change on Sunday, when Pineda is being scheduled to get on the mound for one of the Yankees' farm affiliates, targeting a mid-August return to the big league rotation.

"Four innings and 60 to 65 pitches will be his next move," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We're not exactly sure where it's going to be, they were talking about that today, but it wil be a regular game."

Pineda, who served a 10-game suspension for the pine tar incident and has been on the disabled list since May 6 with a strained teres major muscle behind his right shoulder, threw 45 pitches on Tuesday in a simulated game at the Yankees' complex in Tampa, Fla.

It is likely that Pineda would need three Minor League rehab starts before the Yankees would deem him ready for big league action.

"I think you've got to get him to where he can go 90 pitches and you feel good about it, where he's not fatiguing," Girardi said. "I think if you get there, then he's a guy you think about."

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch and read his MLBlog, Bombers Beat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.